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Smarter Than a Panel Lift: This Ceiling Board Hanger Invention
Uses way less materials, seems easier to use
Enter a caption (optional)If you've got an unfinished ceiling like this, you need some way to safely raise panels up into position so that you can screw them in place. Earlier this year Frank Howarth created a DIY panel lift to help him do just that.
Enter a caption (optional)If you don't want to go the DIY route, big box stores sell and rent commercial versions like this:
I'm sure they work, but they seem awfully fiddly and rickety to me. Also, getting a ladder in and around that thing's considerable footprint looks like a right pain in the ass.
I wondered if anyone had invented an easier method of getting panels up to a ceiling. Poking around the internet, I found the UK-based Ceiling Board Hanger Co.:
While the video's amateurish, the concept seems sound--and their system of relatively diminutive clamps and hooks would be a helluva lot easier to haul around to job sites.
I do think the invention could use some attention from a proper industrial designer, but overall I call this a smart invention.
The topmost photo in this entry is of the basement of the house I live in. I eventually need to finish that ceiling, so if I order a pair of these hangers I'll report back.
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Comments
Having done this for a living in the past...I see some room for design improvement/challenges, depending on the objective.
1. Instantaneous spacial adjustment is critical for speed and quality, for this the original lift is a great design.
2. Ability to; raise to check and lower the sheet quickly and make adjustments, measurements and cuts to a flat horizontally orientated surface using a drywall square is also critical.
3. Joist span is not always uniform, parallel or square. [In the video where sheets are not installed flush to the vertical end walls]
4. Risk of sheet damage is higher than traditional lifts. And breaking sheets sucks!!
5. Traditional lift designs pivot to allow for horizontal and vertical wall installation, both horizontally and vertical sheet orientation
Two problems I see: the spacing of the clamps on the panel and those on the joist have to match pretty closely. How often are you going to lift up the panel only to discover they're not spaced the same? Putting the clamps on a fixed rod could solve that problem. The other: what happens when the panel is adjacent to the wall, or another panel? Seem this solution would work only for some of the panels, would still need some other method for the final close-ins.